But murder as sensation and entertainment became ubiquitous, with cold-blooded killings transformed into novels, broadsides, ballads, opera, and melodrama—even into puppet shows and performing dog-acts. Detective fiction and the new police force developed in parallel, each imitating the other—the founders of Scotland Yard gave rise to Dickens's Inspector Bucket, the first fictional police detective, who in turn influenced Sherlock Holmes and, ultimately, even P.D. James and Patricia Cornwell.In this meticulously researched and engrossing book, Judith Flanders retells the gruesome stories of many different types of murder, both famous and obscure: from Greenacre, who transported his dismembered fiancée around town by omnibus, to Burke and Hare’s bodysnatching business in Edinburgh; from the crimes (and myths) of Sweeney Todd and Jack the Ripper, to the tragedy of the murdered Marr family in London’s East End.Through these stories of murder—from the brutal to the pathetic—Flanders builds a rich and multi-faceted portrait of Victorian society in Great Britain.  With an irresistible cast of swindlers, forgers, and poisoners, the mad, the bad and the utterly dangerous, The Invention of Murder is both a mesmerizing tale of crime and punishment, and history at its most readable.

    John H. Watson opens to reveal eleven all new tales of mystery and dark fantasy. Sherlock Holmes, master of deductive reasoning, confronts the irrational, the unexpected and the fantastic in the weird worlds of the Gaslight Grimoire.

    Yet this most British of civil servants has strong ties to the faraway island of Trinidad, the birthplace of his best friend, Cyrus Douglas, a man of African descent, and where his fiancée Georgiana Sutton was raised.Mycroft’s comfortable existence is overturned when Douglas receives troubling reports​ from home. There are rumors of mysterious disappearances, strange footprints in the sand, and spirits enticing children to their deaths, their bodies found drained of blood. Upon hearing the news, Georgiana abruptly departs for Trinidad. Near panic, Mycroft convinces Douglas that they should follow her, drawing the two men into a web of dark secrets that grows more treacherous with each step they take...Written by NBA superstar Kareem Abdul- Jabbar and screenwriter Anna Waterhouse, Mycroft Holmes reveals the untold story of Sherlock’s older brother. This harrowing adventure changed his life, and set the​ stage for the man Mycroft would become: founder of the famous Diogenes Club and the hidden power behind the British government.

    Now an Edgar Award Nominee!This is the first book about the Detection Club, the world’s most famous and most mysterious social network of crime writers. Drawing on years of in-depth research, it reveals the astonishing story of how members such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers reinvented detective fiction.Detective stories from the so-called “Golden Age” between the wars are often dismissed as cosily conventional. Nothing could be further from the truth: some explore forensic pathology and shocking serial murders, others delve into police brutality and miscarriages of justice; occasionally the innocent are hanged, or murderers get away scot-free. Their authors faced up to the Slump and the rise of Hitler during years of economic misery and political upheaval, and wrote books agonising over guilt and innocence, good and evil, and explored whether killing a fellow human being was ever justified. Though the stories included no graphic sex scenes, sexual passions of all kinds seethed just beneath the surface.Attracting feminists, gay and lesbian writers, Socialists and Marxist sympathisers, the Detection Club authors were young, ambitious and at the cutting edge of popular culture – some had sex lives as bizarre as their mystery plots. Fascinated by real life crimes, they cracked unsolved cases and threw down challenges to Scotland Yard, using their fiction to take revenge on people who hurt them, to conduct covert relationships, and even as an outlet for homicidal fantasy. Their books anticipated not only CSI, Jack Reacher and Gone Girl, but also Lord of the Flies. The Club occupies a unique place in Britain’s cultural history, and its influence on storytelling in fiction, film and television throughout the world continues to this day.The Golden Age of Murder rewrites the story of crime fiction with unique authority, transforming our understanding of detective stories and the brilliant but tormented men and women who wrote them.

    Into his life wanders Linus Steinman, nine years old and mute, who has escaped from Nazi Germany with his sole companion: an African gray parrot.What is the meaning of the mysterious string of German numbers the bird spews out - a top secret SS code? The keys to a series of Swiss bank accounts perhaps? Or something more sinister? Is the solution to this last case - the real explanation of the mysterious boy and his parrot - beyond even the reach of the once-famed sleuth?A short, suspenseful tale of compassion and wit that reimagines the classic nineteenth-century detective story.

    His thousands of pages of essays, reviews, prologues, lectures, and notes on politics and culture—though revered in Latin America and Europe as among his finest work—have scarcely been translated into English.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

    All the stories are traditional Sherlock Holmes pastiches.The authors are donating all the royalties from the collection to preservation projects at Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's former home, Undershaw.This volume covers the years from 1881 to 1889.Contents“Undershaw: An Ongoing Legacy for Sherlock Holmes” ©2015 by Steve Emecz.“The Case of the Lichfield Murder” ©2015 by Hugh Ashton. “The Case of the Vanishing Stars” ©2015 by Deanna Baran.“The Haunting of Sherlock Holmes” ©2015 by Kevin David Barratt.“The Case of the Vanished Killer” ©2015 by Derrick Belanger. “The Tale of the Forty Thieves” ©2015 by C.H. Dye. “The Adventure of the Defenestrated Princess” ©2015 by Jayantika Ganguly.“The Adventure of the Slipshod Charlady” ©2015 by John Hall.“The King of Diamonds” ©2015 by John Heywood. “The Adventure of the Fateful Malady” ©2015 by Craig Janacek. “Study and Natural Talent” and Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson photo illustrations on back cover and within the book ©2015 by Roger Johnson.“Foreword” Part I ©2015 by Leslie S. Klinger. “The Allegro Mystery” ©2015 by Luke Benjamen Kuhns. “Sherlock Holmes of London - A Verse in Four Fits” ©2014 by Michael Kurland.“The Adventure of the Pawnbroker’s Daughter” and “Editor’s Introduction: The Whole Art of Detection” ©2015 by David Marcum. “The Adventure of the Seventh Stain” ©2015 by Daniel McGachey. “The Kingdom of the Blind” ©2015 by Adrian Middleton.“The Ululation of Wolves” ©2015 by Steve Mountain.“The Strange Missive of Germaine Wilkes” ©2015 by Mark Mower.“The Deadly Soldier” ©2015 by Summer Perkins.“The Two Umbrellas” ©2015 by Martin Rosenstock.“The Song of the Mudlark” ©2015 by Shane Simmons.“The Adventure of the Inn on the Marsh” ©2015 by Denis O. Smith.“The Adventure of the Traveling Orchestra” ©2015 by Amy Thomas. “The Adventure of Urquhart Manse” ©2015 by Will Thomas.“The Adventure of the Aspen Papers” ©2015 by Daniel D. Victor.“The Case of the Vanishing Inn” ©2015 by Stephen WadeSherlock Holmes photo illustration on back cover © 1991, 2015 by Mark A. Gagen.

    From the esoteric account of the evolution of the species to the occult roots of science, from the secrets of the Flood to the esoteric motives behind American foreign policy, here is a narrative history that shows the basic facts of human existence on this planet can be viewed from a very different angle. Everything in this history is upside down, inside out and the other way around.At the heart of "The Secret History of the World" is the belief that we can reach an altered state of consciousness in which we can see things about the way the world works that are hidden from us in our everyday, commonsensical consciousness. This history shows that by using secret techniques, people such as Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton and George Washington have worked themselves into this altered state - and been able to access supernatural levels of intelligence. There have been many books on the subject, but, extraordinarily, no-one has really listened to what the secret societies themselves say. The author has been helped in his researches by his friendship with a man who is an initiate of more than one secret society, and in one case an initiate of the highest level.

    From shopkeepers to kings, everyone wants the help of Sherlock Holmes, but can he solve these mysteries?

    There was Michael Chabon's The Final Solution in which "the old man," an 89-year-old beekeeper in Sussex is undoubtedly Holmes. Laurie King, a fine mystery writer, has appropriated Holmes and created a romance between him and young Mary Russell which has lasted through several enjoyable books. And now, nonagenarian Holmes reappears, most appealingly, in Mitch Cullin's A Slight Trick of the Mind. He is frail and forgetful but still observant and capable of shining the bright light of his insight and brilliance on events both past and present.Cullin has carefully woven three stories together and managed it so neatly that no threads show--worthy of Holmes himself. The first is the story of Holmes's recent return from a trip to Japan, ostensibly in search of prickly ash, a bush that he believes contributes to healthy longevity, as does his beloved and trusted royal jelly. While there, he is met by his correspondent, Mr. Umezaki, who isn't as interested in prickly ash as in gleaning information from Holmes about his long-gone father. Supposedly, they met many years before, in London, and Holmes advised him not to return home. Of course, Holmes has no recollection of the meeting but finesses it nicely.It is 1947 when they visit Hiroshima, post-atomic bomb, and Holmes marvels at what he sees. He compares it, most poignantly, to the loss of the queen in a hive, "when no resources were available to raise a new one. Yet how could he explain the deeper illness of unexpressed desolation, that imprecise pall harbored en masse by ordinary Japanese?" That is what he tells Roger, the 14-year-old son of his housekeeper. Roger is the second thread of the novel. Holmes is introducing him to beekeeping and Roger proves an apt student. His hero-worship of Holmes and his need for a father form an integral part of Cullin's intention of "humanizing" the great Sherlock Holmes.The final thread is revealed in a journal that Holmes kept, in which he entered an encounter with a married woman, many years ago. He is infatuated with her, and hardly knows what to call it or what to make of his feelings. This is unfamiliar territory for the man who is rational above all else. The man we know at the end of the book makes the reader want another installment, showing a new Sherlock with a heart as well as a brain.(Amazon Review)

    This anthology of stories featuring the character of Sherlock Holmes follows on from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories which ended with Holmes at Reichenbach Falls.

    The book explores the emergence of science from superstition, how forensic autopsies evolved from anatomical dissection, the huge advances in blood chemistry and poison detection, and the early use of fingerprints, photography and trace evidence. It also provides new insights into landmark criminal cases that influenced the forensic world, such as Jack the Ripper and Lizzie Borden, and includes rare period illustrations.

    In the thirteen decades since A Study in Scarlet first appeared, countless variations on that theme have been played, from Mary Russell to Greg House, from 'Basil of Baker Street' to the new BBC Holmes-in-the-internet-age.We suspect that you have in the back of your mind a story that plays a variation on the Holmes theme...And what if these great writers read that proposal and decided that yes, they did have that kind of tale in the back of their minds? The result is A Study in Sherlock, Stories Inspired by the Sherlock Holmes Canon, with stories by Alan Bradley, Tony Broadbent, Jan Burke, Lionel Chetwynd, Lee Child, Colin Cotterill, Neil Gaiman, Laura Lippman, Gayle Lynds and John Sheldon, Phillip and Jerry Margolin, Margaret Maron, Thomas Perry, S.J. Rozan, Dana Stabenow, Charles Todd, and Jacqueline Winspear.

    The text is rich with literary, historical, and theoretical references that make it eminently re-readable. The Key makes each reading fuller and more meaningful by helping the interested reader not merely to read but also to understand Eco's masterful work. Inspired by pleas from friends and strangers, the authors, each trained in Classics, undertook to translate and explain the Latin phrases that pepper the story. They have produced an approachable, informative guide to the book and its setting--the middle ages. The Key includes an introduction to the book, the middle ages, Umberto Eco, and philosophical and literary theories; a useful chronology; and reference notes to historical people and events.The clear explanations of the historical setting and players will be useful to anyone interested in a general introduction to medieval history.Adele J. Haft is Associate Professor of Classics, Hunter College, City University of New York. Jane G. White is chair of the Department of Languages, Dwight Englewood School. Robert J. White is Professor of Classics and Oriental Studies, Hunter College, City University of New York.

    In a wry send-up of the classic “locked room” puzzle, an Egyptian sage ponders the mystery of a locked tomb. In another tale, a Roman slave’s investigation of a theft leads him to people in very high places. Edgar Allan Poe’s Auguste Dupin has been resurrected for a new adventure, as have historical figures, from William Shakespeare—hot on the trail of Christopher Marlowe's murderer—to Samuel Johnson, with Boswell playing his Dr. Watson! (And speaking of Watson… the wizard of Baker Street, Sherlock Holmes himself, appears in an original story written by the son of Arthur Conan Doyle!) These 23 tales comprise a mixed bag of delicious crime capers designed to tickle the fancy of any dedicated mystery buff.Contents: The locked tomb mystery / Elizabeth Peters — The thief versus King Rhampsinitus / Herodotus — Socrates solves a murder / Brèni James — Mightier than the sword / John Maddox Roberts — The treasury thefts / Wallace Nichols — A Byzantine mystery / Mary Reed and Eric Mayer — He came with the rain / Robert van Gulik — The High King’s sword / Peter Tremayne — The price of light / Ellis Peters — The confession of Brother Athelstan / Paul Harding — The witch’s tale / Margaret Frazer — Father Hugh and the deadly scythe / Mary Monica Pulver — Leonardo da Vinci, detective / Theodore Mathieson — A sad and bloody hour / Joe Gores — The Christmas Masque / S. S. Rafferty — Murder lock’d in / Lillian de la Torre — Captain Nash and the Wroth inheritance / Raymond Butler — The Doomdorf mystery / Melville Davisson Post — Murder in the Rue Royale / Michael Harrison — The gentleman from Paris / John Dickson Carr — The Golden Nugget poker game / Edward D. Hoch — The case of the Deptford horror / Adrian Conan Doyle — Five rings in Reno / R. L. Stevens — Afterword : Old-time detection / Arthur Griffiths